The following is an excerpt from a sermon (available in it's entirety in microsoft word format by clicking here) given in the fall of 2003, just as the Milan Vineyard was officially launching as a new congregation.

We've discussed before that our first order of business as a church is to create breathing room for those who find themselves cut off from God's life. A church, and a community full of spirit empowered demonstrations of mercy and expressions of grace creatively and faithfully given by forgiven people will create room for suffocating people to catch the breath of a God near enough to breathe on them . Share word picture from vision.

Picture a striking, majestic mountain, somewhat mysterious, jutting out from the more familiar terrain around it . Perhaps a mountain like the Matterhorn . That mountain represents the kingdom of God , the place where God has rule, where the God's love is expressed perfectly in every situation.

Because the mountain is so awe inspiring , and so different than every place surrounding it, people travel from all over to visit the mountain, and pay top dollar to stay in fabulous hotels with a view of the mountain. There are lakes in the valleys surrounding the mountain that are fed by the mountain springs. The water is crystal clear and full of fish. People fish, and boat, and water ski on their trips to the mountain. They come to get a break from the grind and sameness of everyday life, and hope to leave inspired and refreshed.

Naturally, a tourist village has sprung up at the foot of the mountain to take advantage of the remarkable opportunities the attractiveness of this mountain affords. Visitors can shop at stores selling all sorts of mountain inspired products. Clothing with cool mountain silk screen images and logos. Fine china with hand painted renderings of the mountain. Mountain calendars . Cds with music inspired by the mountain . Mountain watches , hand bags, and cologne. There are scale models of the mountain for sale, and books of poetry about the mountain. You can go to an IMAX theatre and experience larger than life 3d flybys of the mountain. You can even get married in various open air chapels with a stunning view of the mountain in the background.

Visitors take these goods and experiences back home , and find that their trip to the mountain village has a lingering impact on their lives. When they see the paintings, for example, they find that deep longings in their hearts are stirred; there is a hint in their spirits that there's more to life than the despair and weight of normal existence.

If you were to walk through this village and talk to the people who own and staff these stores, you'd find that by and large they make a fine living off the mountain. They live nearby, some even right there in that village. Their lives revolve around the mountain, constantly thinking of ways to get more people to visit the mountain, to take home things that remind them of the mountain, to tell their friends stories they learned about the mountain. 

Their livelihoods depend on the mountain , so they spend great amounts of energy and money trying to protect it from pollution or other environmental ills that could threaten it. When bad weather, or political instability in the region around the mountain keeps tourists away, it causes great anxiety and hardship for the tourist shop owners, because their income source depends on a thriving tourist base.

They have great respect for the mountain, and vigourously defend it if you try to tell them you've seen more impressive mountains in other places of the world. They've got all sorts of statistics and legends and surveys they can quote to you to provide assurances that, in point of fact, there is no mountain in the world like this mountain.

If you continue to roam the streets, checking out every storefront , you will find that although the wares are essentially the same, each store markets its wares to different clientele. Some shops are designed for families with young children, some are for the wealthy, some are for the fashionable, some are cool spots for university students on spring break, some are for retirees.

But eventually, if you look long enough, you will come upon a humble building toward the back of the village, built right up against the foot of the mountain. The other customers inside won't have that glazed-over look that you've come to expect from people who've been shopping all day. Instead, you'll see an eagerness on their faces, an anticipation. Almost like people who are about to embark on an adventure.

And then you'll see someone who works here, and they'll look like they've just come in from outside, their cheeks ruddy and eyes clear, glasses fogging up slightly from the warm air inside. They'll slip off their gloves, and shake your hand, and smile, and ask if you're ready to go.

"Go where?" you'll ask, of course.

"Up into the mountain, of course," will be the reply. And then it hits you. This isn't a tourist shop. These are mountain guides, men and women, wet-behind-the-ears young people and weathered veterans. Mountain guides, all, who are right now inviting you to leave the village and its seductive but secure comforts, to come on an adventure. An adventure that might change your life forever.

"But I'm dressed for shopping, not hiking!" you object.

"No worries," says your guide. "We've got everything you'll need right here." And sure enough, they do. Clothing, and equipment, and provisions, and maps, and compasses. And it's all free, they tell you. No cost but that you trust them on the adventure. You can wait til you've talked to people who've been on the mountain, or you can go right now. Whenever you are ready, they'll be ready to take you.

"If it's all free," you ask, "How do you make a living?"

They explain that once they, too, were tourists like you, wondering the same thing. Then they went up into the mountain with a guide, and discovered that the guides lived with their families in the mountain, and lived as a family off the provisions of the mountain. The life was so rich and so real and so different than the life they'd been trying to get a break from, that they decided to stay, and make their home in the mountain as well. And the life is so good, and the mountain so large, and the provision so rich, that everyone who lives on the mountain also becomes a mountain guide.

You won't have to stay, or become a tour guide, they assure you. Some people take a guided tour, and then go back home for one reason or another, but many come back eventually. And even those that make their home in the mountain spend some time off the mountain, but it's always for a purpose, and always knowing that their true home is in the mountain.

We can try to make a living packaging and selling Jesus, or we can pack it in and be sold out for Jesus.

The king of the mountain, the king of God's kingdom, Jesus himself, is calling his body to be people of the mountain . He's calling us to live off the provision of God's kingdom, to make our home in God's kingdom, and to know the kingdom well enough ourselves that we can become tour guides for His kingdom. Men and women, wet-behind-the-ears young people and weathered veterans, a family that outfits, and equips, and guides people who are weary of being cut off from the life of God's kingdom. We can guide them into the clear fresh air of the mountain, creating breathing room for suffocating people to catch the breath of a God who reigns in the mountain, and who is near enough to breath on them.